1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with a terminal locking member for doubly locking terminals in terminal accommodating cavities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional electrical connector K with double locking function for terminals, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Heisei 4-149972. The electrical connector comprises a connector housing a with a plurality of terminal accommodating cavities and a terminal locking member b which is slidably attached to the connector housing and locked in two rows of a preliminary locked state and a fully locked state.
Resilient plates d with terminal locking projections c are integrally formed with a main frame e of the terminal locking member b as illustrated in FIG. 8.
Under the condition that the connector housing a and the terminal locking member b are in the preliminary locked state, as shown in FIG. 8, the resilient plate d rides on a projection f on the connector housing a and deflects upwardly so that the terminal locking projection c is also lifted upwardly to permit the terminal g to enter the terminal accommodating cavity. Then, the terminal g is fixed in the cavity through a resilient locking piece h.
When the terminal locking member b is further pushed to proceed to the fully locked state as illustrated in FIG. 9, the projection f enters relief notch i of the resilient plate d to permit the plate d to recover its original shape. As a result, an end c1 of the terminal locking projection c abuts the terminal g for double locking.
Further, in the conventional connector with a terminal locking member K described above, the resilient plate d is integrally formed with the terminal locking member b to provide the preliminarily locked state, which allows the terminal g to be pulled out without disconnecting the locking member b from the connector housing
However, the connector housing a and the terminal locking member b are formed of synthetic resin, and a position where the resilient plate d contacts the projection f is apart from a position where the end c1 of the terminal locking projection c abuts the terminal g, so that the terminal locking projection c is apt to deflect due to the heat and the resilience of the material at the forming process to cause the end c1 thereof to shift. As a result, the terminal locking projections c may be insufficiently bent upwardly at a preliminarily locked state, which prevents the terminal g from smoothly entering the terminal accommodating cavity b due to the abutment with the end c1 or prevents the terminal g from being doubly locked.